A Thief and His Confidants
by Log1c
Summary: Vale is a odd city. Anything and everything can be found within it, crazy and illegal genetic experiments, gang wars, mob bosses, psycho animal people, normal animal people. Anything and everything could be found within in, now see it through the eyes of Vale's most famous thief.
1. Chapter 1

"So I have Adam's word that you're able to do this job, but is it a certainty?"

"Someone as powerful as Adam doesn't have to lie about anything, if he says it's a certainty then it is."

"I don't exactly have any assurance that you are you you say you are."

"When you see me on the nine o'clock news you'll have plenty of assurance as to who I am."

"Cheeky." Roman Torchwick didn't like this one bit. His go-to thief wasn't taking his calls, so he was forced to go to Adam out of desperation; hoping Adam knew a thief who'd work on short notice, a rarity in of itself. Next thing Torchwick knew, he'd been given a scroll number and was told to meet on top of a random building that was under construction downtown by a groggy voice.

"Cheeky enough to take some half-baked job at one-forty two in the morning?" Roman definitely didn't like this thief. Roman wasn't even sure if he was an adult or not, what kind of adult came to a meeting to discuss a theft wearing knit sneakers, joggers and, a sleeveless hoodie? That's not even mentioning the canvas bag slung over his shoulder.

"I guess we'll see," Roman nearly spat as he reached into his white jacket and pulled out a yellow manilla envelope, "This has everything you'll need."

The thief took the envelope and opened it, quickly examining its contents, "This'll work I guess. Any specific requests while I'm on the job?"

"No. Adam said you work best unrestricted."

"Adam's right. Unrestricted is my jam."

He definitely wasn't an adult or at least he wasn't able to act like a professional but based on his appearance, Roman leaned toward the former.

"I want this done by sunrise."

"Wow, how incredibly vague."

"Saying you can't do it?"

"Saying that you better pay me up front."

Roman tsked, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a roll of lien, "That's five thousand Lien, you'll get the other half once I have what I want delivered to me."

"You're lucky I'm a reasonable man." The thief pocketed the cash.

"If you keep talking like that you'll be a dead man."

"I'm protected by Adam, you kill me and every gun at his beck and call will be aimed at you, not to mention some...other unsavory groups who'd be disappointed to see me go."

"Like who?"

"Like none of your business. If the fact Adam protects me isn't enough for you then you can keep your money, I don't do business with dead men."

Roman smirked, maybe this kid wasn't so bad after all, "Now now, let's simmer down. I was just curious."

"Curiosity kills cats and criminals."

"True enough." Roman admitted, smirking as he backed away from the thief, "But if this job's not done by six o'clock, I'm gonna start getting real curious and start looking for you."

Roman disappeared down a staircase that lead to the lower floors as the thief turned and let his cobalt eyes wander across the bright city, Vale's skyline wasn't the most impressive but was beautiful to most all the same. The thief sighed as he leaned forward against a railing and ran a hand through his blonde hair, "Sunrise, six o'clock, make up your damn mind."

/~/

Detectives and officers alike shifted anxiously as the entirety of Vale's police force was being crammed into the small conference room within VPD. Most of them had been roused from their sleep and called down to the station while the others had been pulled off patrol, a general sense of wonder and annoyance surrounded the why however.

Chattered began to fill the small room as someone new entered the room, a blonde older man in a navy blue uniform that was adorned with badges and a golden shield, this man was known to most of these people as Chief Xiao Long. Xiao Long stood at a podium before the sea of law enforcement officials and spoke with a booming voice that most in his inner circle were unfamiliar with, "Arsene has struck again."

Noise erupted within the precinct once again, everyone knew Arsene. He was a thief who'd- no. He was the thief who'd been on the VPD's most wanted list ever since he emerged four years ago. Taiyang brought a fist down on the podium, the sound of splintering wood silencing everyone within the conference room, "Quiet!"

Xiao Long settled before continuing, "We all know Arsene's general description, young man between seventeen and twenty nine, blue eyes, white skin, no visible Faunus traits or tattoos, distinctive possibility of being an Altered."

Altered. The very word caused most of the officers to shiver.

"He's guilty of multiple counts of trespassing, burglary, breaking and entering, assault and, murder," Xiao Long's voice became hushed before he continued, "Arsene is very dangerous…"

The officers listened closely as Chief Xiao Long continued, going more and more into detail about the dangerous phantom thief that plagued them and their city...

/~/

Jaune yawned as he shuffled into his apartment, the clock had just struck six-thirty two and Jaune was much richer than he had been when he'd been woken up at one in the morning by a scroll call. The dimly lit apartment was nothing special but it was home for Jaune...and someone else.

Jaune yelped as he tripped walking between the couch and the coffee table. Lifting himself up, Jaune saw that his friend and roommate had passed out on the couch; TV on and all. Jaune shook his head, even the sound of his manly yelp and his falling to the floor hadn't woken his roommate, Jaune tapped the top of what he was assuming was his friend's head, "Wake up, Ren. Sleeping on the couch is bad for your back."

Ren sleepily swatted at Jaune's hand before rolling over on the couch, "Tired…"

"You can't be a transporter if you can't even sit up straight, go to bed." Jaune demanded, effortlessly picking Ren up off the couch and tossing him to the floor; the sound of Ren's groan and the thud of a body hitting the floor ringing through the apartment.

"Asshole!" Ren shouted in an un-Ren like way, he was indeed a man who enjoyed his sleep and messing with it was a sure fire way to break his stoic exterior.

"What of it?" Jaune asked, flopping onto the couch.

Ren begrudgingly lifted himself off the floor and rubbed his neck as she attempted to crack it, "How was the job?"

"Easiest ten grand I've ever made."

"Did you give Adam his cut?" Ren asked as he picked up the TV remote and shut the blinding machine off, leaving them only the early morning sun streamed through the windows.

"I'll do that in the morning."

"Technically it is the morning."

"Guess I'll do it now then, I'm already up," Jaune sighed, "I'm gonna grab a coffee, then deal with that noise."

"Paying the man who keeps us safe and in business isn't 'noise', Jaune." Ren insisted as he cracked his neck, "I'm going to take your advice for once and go to bed. Night, Arsene."

"It's just Jaune with you, Ren." Jaune said as Ren disappeared down the single hallway in their apartment towards his room.

Jaune sighed as he leaned into the couch, his body ached ever so slightly after this most recent heist; so much running and fighting that it had even started to get to him.

Jaune had always seen his criminal persona, Arsene, as someone entirely different; maybe it was a coping mechanism or it was just his way of justifying his brutalities, phantom thievery was a dirty business more often than he liked. It wasn't like in the movies where there was always a direct stealthy path right to what he wanted, sometimes there were "walls" without paths or vents to get to the other side of them undetected so Jaune sometimes had to smash through them.

Jaune groaned as he heaved himself up, he had to pay Adam his dues but first, he needed caffeine...a scone wouldn't hurt either. Jaune flicked on the apartment light, recoiling at the sudden flash before rubbing his eyes as they adjusted. Jaune stood in front of the tall mirror they had placed in their room and tsked, his hoodie had blood on it. Jaune sighed as he turned and pulled the hoodie off, tossing it into the garbage can and making his way to his room to grab a new hoodie before quietly exiting the apartment.

The sun had risen a bit more since Jaune had seen it but it was still fairly early and dim, the way Jaune liked it. Jaune's favorite cafe wasn't too far away so instead of catching a cab or even running, he decided to simply walk and take in the city. Jaune and Ren didn't live in a great area, mostly because it used to be all they could afford and now they were just too lazy move, but Jaune enjoy the view he had right out of his front door; Jaune could see most of Vale's skyline currently covered in a light fog that complimented the spring morning nicely.

The obnoxious ringing of Jaune's scroll brought him out his sight seeing and forced Jaune to pulled out the scroll and check the caller ID, Stabby McStabstab

Jaune groaned as he answered the call, "Do not tell me you have another job."

"Not quite, Adam is just wondering when you'll be stopping by...we might have to clean up."

"Why isn't the man himself telling me this?" I asked, leaning against a light pole as the light flickered out.

"He's-," the voice on the other end was interrupted by the loudest scream Jaune had ever heard before he continued, "...preoccupied."

"Tell him I'll be by in an hour or so."

"Make it two...there's a lot to clean up."

"Two it is," Jaune hung up the scroll and softly tossed his head back into the light pole, "What the fuck am I gonna do for two hours?"

/~/

Jaune found himself exactly where he had said he'd be, getting coffee. It was a very small cafe is the eastern part of the city, a part of the city Jaune didn't work in too often but it didn't stop him from learning his way around. He'd found the small cafe, Éclos, when he'd originally began working as a thief; Jaune had started searching for an escape of sorts and found it in the eastern part of the city, a part of the city that wasn't as seedy as the rest of Vale.

"Wanna refill, Jaune?"

Jaune had been boredly scrolling through his phone, a half empty cup of coffee sitting in front of him within his booth before looking up to see a black and red haired girl in a distressed black shirt and red jeans, her outfit however was offset by the puke green apron she was being forced to wear for work.

"Come on, Ruby. You know I do." Jaune smiled at the young girl, she was the owner's daughter and was working there as a way to help pay for college. He'd been coming her for awhile so he had taken the time to investigate into her a little bit. He'd been coming here regularly ever since he was sixteen so he'd known Ruby for a fairly long time, ever since she was fourteen and came in after school to study while her mom worked. Ruby was a awkward girl to say the least, she never really talked about friends or crushes or anything social, her and Jaune's conversations usually drifted towards music, books, movies and, television.

Ruby took Jaune's cup and over behind the long counter that covered most of the cafe and reached onto the long and tall shelf that ran behind the counter that was filled with an almost limitless amount and kinds of beans.

"So how's school going kid?" Jaune asked.

"I am not a kid, not anymore at least." Ruby huffed, setting a jar of beans down.

"Sorry, it's just hard to tell sometimes." Jaune jabbed, fully prepared for Ruby's retaliation.

Surprisingly, Ruby bit back her jab until she began grinding beans, "This is why you've never had a girlfriend, Jaune."

"Who says I want one? I'm married to my work anyways." Jaune explained as Ruby went about making the coffee itself with the fresh grounds.

"What do you do anyway?" Ruby asked, it wasn't the first time she asked this question and it was one he dodged.

"Odd jobs here and there, ya know, that kinda thing." Jaune said as a steaming cup of coffee was set in front of him.

"Like what?" Ruby asked, sliding into the booth and sitting across from him.

"Don't you have customers to server or something?"

"No...I really don't, so spill." Ruby said, causing Jaune to look around and realize that the cafe was empty, he really had to start paying attention more even when he wasn't working.

"Well, ya see-" Jaune was interrupted by his scroll ringing and was eternally grateful to whoever was on the other end, that is until he saw the caller ID and sighed, Stabby McStabstab, "What? Don't tell me he's canceling."

"Yeah, no. This is beginning to look like a four man job and I'm thinking you'd be best su- No, Ja-!" Jaune flinched as a loud echoing gunshot rang out on the other end of the call.

"You okay bud?" Jaune asked cautiously.

"Never mind on the how help thing, you can come over anytime. We were almost done taking out the trash anyway, what's a little more right?"

"I'll be by soon," Jaune closed his scroll and tossed a small wad of bills onto the table before taking one last sip of coffee, "Gotta go, Rubes."

"This is a four hundred percent tip, how can you afford this?" Ruby asked as Jaune began to walk out. It was true, Éclos was a bit spendier than most of the other coffee shops around so a four hundred percent tip would make a massive dent in any normal person's wallet; fortunately Jaune's wallet was far from normal and felt that part of his most recent paycheck would be better in Ruby's hands than his own.

"Your service was spectacular as ever, figured you should be compensated." Jaune stated simply before he began to open the door, only to feel a light thump against the back of his head. Spinning, Jaune turned to see Ruby now standing and smirking at him.

Looking down, Jaune, unsurprisingly, saw the wad of bills he'd just given Ruby. After he'd bent down and picked it up, Jaune rose and looked at Ruby questioningly, "Why?"

"Friends don't tip friends."

Jaune narrowed his eyes at the girl before him pocketing the money; he was almost forced to shake his head and chuckle, "And here I thought you were a starving college student."

"Not starving enough to take a friend's money."

"You're a strange one, Ruby Rose."

"Not as strange as you, Jaune." Ruby shot back.

"Later, Rubles."

"See you soon, Jaune." Ruby waved as Jaune left, leaving the girl to stew in her boredom.

/-/

AN: Welcome to the new story, hopefully you'll enjoy yourself. I've been thinking about writing something non-RWBY to cleanse my palette between chapters, I've only been writing RWBY ever since I started writing, so almost three years, I need something new. Haha...


	2. Chapter 2

_"What's zero-two-five's status?" A suited man asked._

 _"Normal, muscle refabrication is nearly complete and his healing factor is almost fully developed." A man in a lab coat responded, flipping through sheets on his clipboard._

 _"It's."_

 _"Uh...excuse me sir?"_

 _"Zero-two-five is an 'it' as far as we're concerned, address it as such."_

 _"But sir, we can clearly see the specimen is a male, why address hi...it...as an it?"_

 _"Weapons don't have genders, Caffery." The suited man walked away, "Tell me zero-two-four's status."_

 _Caffery hung his head and turned, looking at the specimen within their glass tube out of the corner of his eye before starting after the suited man, "I'm sorry...Ren."_

-X-

Ren woke with a start realizing that he was drenched in a cold sweat and had his sheets in a twisted death grip. He breathed shakily and slowly, sitting up slowly as he held a hand against his bare chest; feeling his heart bang against his rib cage in fear, like a prisoner trying to escape the confines of their cell.

"It was just a dream… It was just a dream." Ren repeated over and over till his heart settled back into its normal beat and he was able to stand. Ren wandered toward the large mirrored sliding door that covered his closet and examined himself in it. Skinny and toned. Long black hair with an abnormal pink stripe. Pink eyes.

But the thing that drew Ren's attention most was the tattoo on his chest, his ID number.

 **025**

A marking that identified his as an Altered. A genetically modified freak. He was faster, he was stronger, he was smarter and he could heal faster than any normal person on the planet; every Altered was. Even now, a free man, Ren wasn't sure who ran the Lab; he just knew that the numbers were sequential and that the lower the number, the stronger the Altered was. Ever since the Altered escaped seven years ago, the highest number Ren had seen was forty-two, but he knew there were more.

Ren slid the door open and pulled out some clothes before quickly throwing them on, he'd had a late night and he suspected it was somewhere around ten now so he knew he needed some sugar or caffeine. Ren soon found himself lazily walking into the kitchen and flipping on the coffee maker, hoping there was fresh grounds and water in the machine. Ren quietly celebrated as fresh coffee dripped into the pot.

Ren dug out his favorite mug, a black and green one with "World's Greatest Transporter" on the side that Jaune had had made last year for Christmas, and his favorite creamer before watching the machine in anticipation.

Ren briefly wondered if Jaune had visited Adam yet, Jaune was unpredictable but usually reliable so he was confident that Jaune had gotten it done...or at least had a good excuse for not getting it done.

Ren rid himself of thoughts of his friend and poured himself a cup of coffee and added the creamer before sipping the warm liquid. Ren heard a ringing mid sip and realized it was his phone; quickly setting down his cup, Ren ran to his room and dove to his nightstand where his scroll sat and answered it, "Hello?"

"I was told this was the number for a transporter by the name of Echion."

"This is he."

-X-

"Baptized in an ocean of Hennessy," Jaune found quietly whispering along with the music in his headphones as he rode the elevator up to Adam's penthouse, where the mob boss ran his how operation, "Really wonder what the remedy, tell me how's the world gon' remember me."

Jaune grabbed the railing as the elevator came to a sudden and screeching halt, Jaune's head snapped to the speaker in the top right corner of the elevator as a young male voice came from it, "Who is it?"

"Let me in, Leo." Jaune demanded before the elevator began to climb up slowly, stopping after only a few seconds so the doors could open with a small whoosh; where Leo stood.

"Hey, Jaune." Leo was a bit shorter than most guys and had a slim and lean build, similar Jaune's own build. Leo was an interesting looking individual to say the least, his longish black and red hair was pushed back, he was the proud owner of a set of red eyes and had a lion tail hanging behind him; his Faunus trait.

"What's up, Leo?" They fist bumped in greeting, Leo was one of Adam's lieutenants and the head of his information network; but that didn't limit Leo from getting his hands dirty. He was deadly with the twin knives that Jaune knew he had sheathed under his black leather jacket with a black fur collar.

"Oh you know, the usual." Leo said nonchalantly as the two began to walk through the modern penthouse. Swathed in black and red and with an amazing view of Vale, Adam's penthouse was quite a sight.

"The usual sounded a lot like torture." Jaune admitted.

"Blame Jace for that one, he was starting to run out of ideas to we had to step in." Leo said with a wave of his hand.

"Not surprising, imagination isn't exactly Jace's forte." Jaune mumbled, not sure if Jace was nearby or not as he was lead down a hallway by Leo.

"Fuck off."

Jaune looked over his shoulder to see a taller young man with ragged black hair with a single red lock and golden eyes that looked like they could pierce through anything, his black and red suit was well fitted only showing the slightest bulge under his arms where he had twin pistols holstered, "Hey Jace, what brings you to the high rise?"

"Adam called me, don't exactly know why but I'm not exactly someone who should question him." Jace was another of Adam's lieutenants and the head of his more dirty operations, usually contract killing however.

"Think Sax is still here?" Leo asked as they three criminals neared Adam's study.

"ADAM! WE CAN'T CARPET BOMB THE CITY TO DRAW OUT VASILIAS'S OR THE SCHNEE'S!"

"WHY NOT!?"

"Yeah, he's here." Jace murmured, stepping forwards and opening Adam's study where the man himself sat behind an L shaped desk, wearing black suit pants and a red dress shirt with a few buttons undone, and another man around Jaune's age with thick black and white hair and gray eyes that bristled with annoyance.

The other man was Saxon, Adam's closest lieutenant and his bodyguard, he was also the strongest Altered Jaune had met. Jaune wasn't sure about his ID but it had to be under 15, meanwhile Jaune had to deal with the 024 tattooed on his chest, "Yo."

"Hey Saxon," Jaune gave a small three fingered wave, he'd always found himself walking on eggshells around the other Altered, Saxon was insanely terrifying when he cut loose, "Sooooo… Why are you talking about carpet bombing Vale?"

"We aren't. Isn't that right, Adam?" Saxon asked, leaning toward his boss with narrowed eyes.

Adam's emerald eyes scanned the man at his right hand, before turning back to the three who had just entered the room, "Right… It's nothing for you to worry about Jaune."

"Just keep the blitz away from my apartment yeah? I just updated my lease." Jaune sat down on one of the many couches in Adam's office.

"So I'm guessing you've brought me my ten percent." Adam asked, lacing his fingers and setting his hands onto his desk.

"Yup," Jaune reached into his hoodie pocket and pulled out a small envelope from his pocket and tossing it across the room and onto Adam's deck, "You should count that, with how tired I am I'm not sure if I counted right or not."

"I trust you, against my better judgement," Adam held the envelope up, letting Saxon take the envelope and sliding it into his leather jacket's inner pocket, "By the way, you've contracted work out to the Vasilias's right?"

"Once in awhile." The Vasilias family was one of the three major crime families within Vale, the current head of the family was Neptune Vasilias and their business was mostly in clubs, stripe clubs, prostotution, and counterfeit alcohol but some strong arming did occur within their family.

"You ever hear them talk about us at all?"

"Not exactly, they know I do the majority of my contracting through you so they played it pretty tight lipped around me." Jaune explained, standing suddenly as Adam stood and turned to Saxon.

"Send someone to The Pearl, I want to talk to Vasilias," Saxon nodded before Adam turned back to Jaune, "What about the Schnees?"

"I don't work with them… Period," The Schnees were mostly involved in contract killing and gun running and Jaune despised their way of business, "That frigid bitch they call a boss is a psycho."

"Fair enough," Adam nodded before turning to Leo, "Get me some info on the Schnees."

"I'll get someone on it now." Leo pulled out his phone and began tapping away at the screen.

"What's going on, Adam?" Jaune asked, stepping forward to stand in front of Adam's desk.

"One of our guys was tuned up last night, he wasn't important to our operation but I won't let someone take potshots at my men and I'm certain another family is the cause of it-"

"Without even considering that it might just be some idiot trying to make waves and start a war." Saxon cut in, looking down at his boss from the corner of his eye.

"Which is why, I'm looking to meet Schnee and Vasilias," Adam said before sighing and rubbing his eyes, "I need a drink."

"Not before a meeting, Adam." Saxon said, glancing back down at his boss.

"What are you? My mother?"

"With the way I take care of you? I might as well be."

"Can I go now," Jaune asked, hesitantly interrupting the bodyguard and his contract, "I don't mean to interrupt or anything but I kinda wanna sleep."

"Yeah, go," Adam waved Jaune toward the door, "Saxon will call you if anything comes up."

"Keep it real." Leo called and waved as Jaune quietly left the office, walking through the apartment and into the elevator before hitting a button with GF printed on it. This wasn't really his business, he would sit back and watch the show. Jaune had the tendency to stay impartial whenever the families were on edge so chances were that he wouldn't have any big work until the whole mess was over.

Jaune reached inside the center pocket of his hoodie and pulled out a simple black cigarette case that seemed to be stained dark brown before spinning the thin box between his thumb and middle finger, "Do not go gentle into that good ni-"

Jaune pocketed the case as his phone began ring and swearing softly before answering the phone, "What?"

"Woah, what's with the edge J?"

"Vasilias, what do you want?" Jaune asked, settling his phone between his ear and shoulder.

"What do you think I want?"

"Should I stop by The Pearl?"

"No, this one is pretty cut and dry. Lighthart Labs, main vault, article eighty six."

"Tech isn't your thing, Vasilias. Why am I breaking into a research and development lab?"

"Because I have a briefcase full of cash and I'm not afraid to throw some of it around."

"True enough," Jaune admitted with a shrug as the elevator screeched to a halt, "I'll get it done."

"You always do… Arsene."

Jaune hung up as he stepped out of the elevator, pocketing the phone and walking through the building lobby onto the street. Jaune already had a plan for Lighthart Labs; he figured that he'd eventually need to break into the place so after clearing a weekend to himself, he did a full breakdown of the place. He already had his in, his out, his emergency in, his emergency out, his back up plan, his secondary back up plan, the just-in-case-he-gets-shot plan, the just-in-case-the-building-has-a-fucking-self-destruct-button plan.

Jaune didn't like being blindsided so he planned for as much as possible.

He would go that night and have the target by morning. But first, he needed sleep. Sleep was essential.

-X-

 **AN: Aight, let's talk. Or more accurately, I'll talk into a endless white void and hope someone listens.**

 **This is gonna be a low key vent moment so if you're not down with that then you should probably dip out now, hope you guys enjoyed the chapter and I'll see you later.**

 **Right so, Persona 5. I hate to break it to you guys but, I haven't played Persona 5 yet. I've been planning on it and I planned on going in blind but after soooooo many comparisons, I sat through a few episodes of a Let's Play and I now see the...similarities.**

 **First one I noticed was Jaune's alias, Arsene. I'm gonna reveal something weird about my childhood, my dad read me Maurice Leblanc's stories as a kid, he's a huge book nerd so I've been exposed to a lot of classic literature. One Thousand and One Nights (better known as The Arabian Nights), Sherlock Holmes and 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea are just a few he read me.**

 **I'm weird, I know, blame my father.**

 **Second is well...the title. I think this is the biggest mix up, A Thief and His Confidants. A confidant is "a aclose friend or associate to whom secrets are confided or with whom private matters and problems are discussed". I picked this specific name for the story's because of some events later on in the story.**

 **Those are the only two things I noticed concerning Persona 5 but I haven't personally played it yet so I coulda be wrong.**

 **Alright, I got work soon so I'll update soon. I actually have more to say but I don't want this to be too venty. I hope you enjoyed and I'll see you all soon.**


	3. Chapter 3

" _Run…"_

" _B-"_

" _Run! Never stop fighting… Do not go gentle...into…"_

" _That good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light."_

" _That's right… know that the dark is never right. Okay?"_

" _Okay."_

" _Good. Very good… Now take this and go… Go!"_

* * *

Jaune woke softly from his dream softly, it wasn't with ragged breath or drenched in cold sweat like in books and movies. It was just with uneven breathing and anger that his sleeping mind dredged the horrible memories up from his subconscious.

Jaune kicked off his covers and looked to see that it was in fact, seven at night. The green read out on his clock shined in the pitch black darkness of his room, almost acting as a beacon in the dark and helping Jaune wander out of his own room. Jaune walked down the hallway and into the living room to find Ren was sitting on the couch, leaning forward with a game controller in his hand, staring at the screen of their television with murderous intent.

"Yo, Re-"

I was cut off when Ren suddenly stood and threw the controller across the living room and into the kitchen when it crashed into the fridge and shattered into tiny plastic pieces, Ren marched over the coffee table and toward the flat screen TV before grabbing it in a silent rage and glaring at the TV, "I will kill you, Lady Maria. You're dead, your family is dead, and I will dance on your grave."

"You're taking that game _way_ too seriously." Jaune said, plopping onto the couch, "You need a new controller by the way."

"You don't understand, Jaune," Ren sat down beside Jaune, "This game is so...maddening."

"Why do you even play it then?"

"Because it's maddeningly amazing."

Jaune rolled his eyes before standing, "Yeah well, while you lose your mind, I'm gonna go make money; gonna be productive and all that."

"I spent all of my day being productive, I almost ended up on the six o'clock news."

"That's not exactly a good thing, Ren." Jaune stated before he walked to the living room closet and removed his gray duffel bag from it and slung it across his back.

"'You have to take the good with the bad.'" Ren quoted as Jaune opened the door and began to walk out.

"Choke on your proverb." Jaune called back before slamming the door behind him.

* * *

"Our eyes on Jaune say that he's left his place and is heading downtown, probably on a job." Saxon reported as he stashed his scroll in the pocket of his brown leather jacket.

"Looks like Vasilias wants something." Adam acknowledged, crossing his legs as his limo slowly crawled through downtown.

"You ever consider that maybe some else hired him?"

"Jaune's picky, he's not gonna work for just anyone unless the price is astronomical and no one in this town has that much cash." Adam said as he pick up his glass from the cup holder and sipped his whiskey.

"Still, the idea isn't totally out of reach."

"Why are you always playing devil's advocate?" Adam asked with mock inpatients.

"Because if I didn't we'd all be dead." Saxon stated simply.

"That's not true."

"Silverwalk."

"Okay...yeah." Adam admitted.

"Shadeloft."

"That's debatable."

"The Coffee Spoon!"

"That's ancient history, Sax." Adam dismissed.

"IT WAS TWO WEEKS AGO!"

"Everything okay back there sirs?" The driver had rolled down his window and was peeking back into the backseat.

"Yes, Bosco. Sax is just heated as usual." Adam said, causing Bosco to chuckle as he rolled up his window.

Saxon ran a hand through his hair as the limo began to slow down, "We're at the Pearl."

Saxon climbed out as the limo as it stopped and looked ever direction before he motioned Adam out of the limo.

A man in black was waiting outside the strip club, wearing sunglasses at night like a douchebag, and he gestured for Adam and Saxon to follow him. Adam rolled his eyes, "Neptune was smart in high school, why he hires such garbage help is beyond me."

"Relax." Saxon said as they followed, passing by the bouncer without a glance as they entered into the strip club that was swathed in red and cyan.

Girls wearing almost nothing strutted around from filled couch to filled couch taking orders as they watched a scantily clad costumed girl danced on the main stage while other girls led men through a curtain down the private rooms where private dances took place.

Which is where Adam and Saxon were being lead. A massive man stood beside the curtain and motioned for the pairs guide to leave and looked at Adam as the sunglasses wearing man left, "Pat down."

Adam spread his arms and legs and the man reached towards the mob boss before he felt a grip of iron latch onto his wrist, the guard looked at Adam's bodyguard before the monochrome haired Altered spoke, "You touch him in any way and I'm gonna touch you in some not so nice ways."

The man pulled his arm away from the smaller man's grip before glaring at him, "I'm going to pat you down."

"That's fine," Saxon smirked as he spread his arms and legs, "I don't need weapons to kill you."

The pat down was a long, tedious process that ended in the guard holding a pistol, a revolver, a combat knife, four throwing knives, and a grenade.

As the guard tiredly motioned for them to step through the curtain, Adam glanced at his trusty bodyguard, "You had a grenade?"

"Oh, don't be surprised. You know me."

Adam was about to respond but two suited guards motioned for them at the end of the short hallway and they two remained silent as they walked past curtained rooms, gasps and groans escaping from behind the fabric walls.

One of the guards opened the door and they entered, the door was shut behind them and Saxon released a small sigh. They were in the belly of the beast...so to speak.

The office was nice, a spruce desk sat near the back of the room where a cyan haired man sat with two leather chairs before it, file cabinets lined most of the back wall while the left wall had a couch pressed against it where a spiky haired blonde sat and the right wall had an odd assortment of pictures and newspaper clippings posted to it in a madman's arrangement with two steel folding chairs facing it.

"Still boring as shit I see." Adam mused.

"Good to see you too." The man behind the desk cut in before standing, his marron suit shifting as he reached forward.

Adam walked forward and shook the outstretched hand as the blonde stood and soon was beside the blue haired man, "Neptune, it really is a pleasure to see you again."

"It definitely is." Neptune responded with a smile, a well faked smile that took him a long way.

Saxon stood behind Adam, "Sun."

"Saxon." The blonde responded curtly.

"How's your chest doing?"

"It only hurts when I breathe." Sun growled.

"Are we going to have problems?" Adam asked as he sat in one of the leather chairs.

"Of course not, you keep Sax in check and I'll keep Sun from tearing him apart." Neptune sat back in his seat.

"That didn't exactly work out too well last time, _Vasilias_." The edge in Adam's voice was apparent

"We can can both agree that wasn't exactly the fairest fight, _Taurus_."

"If you aren't cheating, you aren't trying." Saxon cut in, causing Sun to grit his teeth before Neptune laughed.

"It's all in the past, no? Let's all just relax," Neptune said before reaching into his desk drawer, something that nearly send Saxon across the desk, and pulled out a bottle of rum and two glasses, "Do you mind your drink neat?"

"I don't like rum." Adam responded as Neptune poured the two glasses.

"Neat it is." Neptune said as he corked the bottle and slid it to Adam.

Adam begrudgingly reached for the glass before Saxon snatched it off the desk and took a small sip, Neptune scoffed.

"Oh please, I didn't poison it. I wouldn't waste Menagerie rum like that," Neptune took a sip of his own to emphasize his point, "Plus, killing _and violence_ isn't my business."

"I'm guessing you know why I'm here then." Adam said as his glass was set back in front of him and he took a small sip.

"I do."

* * *

Jaune's currently enhanced gaze scanned the Lighthart Labs compound. It was all pretty standard and by the numbers, at least for him. Electrified fence and barbed wire. Armed patrols. Dogs. Cameras. Spot lights. All the good stuff. Jaune let his hand fall to his side, his pair of binoculars loose in his grip as he got a broader view of the compound. Jaune was a block away at the moment, close but not enough to begin formulating his in. The boy turned and hopped off the buildings edge, onto the roof before he dug threw his duffel where he stowed his binoculars and pulled out his lucky bandana.

The blonde tied the bandana around the bottom half of his face and pushed his hair back before lifting up his hood. His slim black hoodie, black joggers and sneakers blended into the night while he slung his duffel across his back and tightened the strap.

Jaune cracked his neck before stepping back. One, two, three, four, five. Jaune hopped up and down softly, feeling shaky breaths leave his lungs before he took off. Jaune cleared the street and landed on the roof across the way with ease, rolling into a run. Jaune ran across the block of warehouse and small business rooftops before he leaped through the night and over the fences into the compound.

He landed with a roll, skidding to a stop this time before he turned on a dime and took off to his left and slid underneath one of the delivery trucks that the company no doubt used to deliver their tech as a spot light washed over where he'd just been. Jaune propped himself up on his side and pulled out his scroll and pulled up a aerial picture of the compound he'd gotten online beforehand. He spotted his preselected entrance, a vent on the roof.

Simple but effective.

Jaune peeked out from under the front of the truck to scan the side of the building. Nothing to climb. Jaune found his plans changing as a guard turned a corner and began walking along the wall Jaune had been staring at. The man looked to be fiddling with his flashlight while Jaune silently slipped his duffel bag off, Jaune watched as another spot light washed across the ground before he slipped out from under the truck and moved through the darkness before slipping behind the man.

Jaune felt the slightest tingling of guilt as he threw his arm around the man's throat and began dragging him back to the truck while the man croaked and struggled. The thief's off handed fist smashed into the guards face and the man went limp, making it easier to drag him under the truck before he began to undress the man and slip onto his clothes before stuffing his own into the duffel. Jaune clambered out from under the truck and dusted off the uniform.

A dark blue blouse and a black cargo pants stuffed into boots and a black cadet cap. He tightened the belt and felt the his own modified and holstered gun and flashlight press against his legs. Jaune pulled his cap down and grabbed his duffel and strided confidential toward the main entrance of the main building.

The front door worked too.

Making his way to the vault was a simple enough task. The guards keycard worked well enough to get him where he needed to go. A new plan formed in his head as he walked, his entrance plan became his exit plan. Go out through the vents, wait for an opportunity to jump off the building and get back to the ground level, go from there.

Foolproof.

* * *

"So I wake up, holding a bloody ice pick, Scarlet is on the floor and _he is_ covered in blood. Next thing I know, cops are banging on my door and demanding I turn myself in," Neptune's words were slurred seeing as how he was on his seventh rum, "It was kinda a weird Tuesday."

Adam broke into a mad fit of giggles, his face flushed as he downed his sixth drink, "We should really talk more, Nep."

"We should! Why did we even have this Cold War type thing going on anyways?" Neptune asked, slamming his empty glass down and Sun reluctantly filled it.

"You hit on my little sister."

"Oh! Right! I'm so sorry about that, I actually felt bad about it but I didn't wanna back down, ya know? If you don't keep some edge the soldiers start to lose respect for ya."

"I get it, Nep," Adam set his glass down before grabbing the edge of Saxon's coat, "Please don't let me drink anymore, I still have those plans."

"Truce?" Neptune shakily stood up and offered his hand to Adam.

Adam stood and accepted the shake, "Most definitely. Who knows? Maybe we can do business someday?"

Neptune sat back down, "We should discuss that when we're not so intox… intox... drunk."

Adam laughed as he returned to his seat, "So, what did you hire Jaune for?"

"Just a little heist, Lighthart has supposedly been working on some weird new weapon."

"Aren't they a tech company?" Saxon asked.

"Yeah but this thing is sweet, apparently it's some kinda smart pistol." Sun answered while his employer dry heaved into a trash can.

"A what?"

"Bullets track what you're aiming at, they can curve and pursue a target," Saxon said, "Sun's right, that's one sweet piece of-"

Saxon's explanation was interrupted by the sound of Neptune losing his breakfast, lunch and dinner in the trash can, "You okay, Vasilias?"

Neptune was still still starting not the trash can as he spit, "Yeah… I'm good. God, I feel better."

"Anyway, bullets hit no matter what. It's pretty sweet, though it does take the skill out of shooting." Saxon finished.

"I thought it would make a nice birthday gift for my amazing bodyguard." Neptune patted Sun's arm.

"Why don't you get me anything nice?" Saxon whispered to Adam.

"What do you mean? I pay you."

"But do you have Jaune steal me birthday gifts?"

"Fine, I'll get you and the guys something for your birthdays…"

"You don't know them do you?"

* * *

Jaune found himself humming as he strolled through the empty corridors, the fingerprint and voice lock on the vault was a whole new level of ancient and Jaune had made quick work of it before grabbing article eighty-six, a white briefcase, and making his getaway.

He entered into a janitor's closet and after changing back into his normal clothes, white briefcase now shoved into his duffel bag, he began to scramble through the vents before making his way upward and busting out onto the roof. As Jaune stood and dusted himself off he looked at the vent cover he had kicked out, "That'll definitely need replacing."

Jaune scraped his shoes across the gravel covered roof, he could risk the jump and try to long jump over the compounds fence instead. It seemed more plausible than finding a way out down below. The slightest sound of metal being dragged triggered Jaune's instincts and in a flash he turned and raised a quickly drawn knife from his bag only to be met with a resounding ring as steel smashed against steel. He saw a katana wielded by a man with dark complexion and burnt orange hair. The metal cried as they struggled before the man and his weapon leaped backward.

"It would seem I've lost my element of surprise." The man said in a low monotone voice.

"It would seem so, why not chalk it up as a loss and head home huh?" Jaune changed the knife to a backhand grip.

"I'm afraid that can't be done."

"What are you even doing here? Swords have been out of style for four hundred years or so, welcome to the twenty-first century."

"You are the thief, Arsene, correct?"

Jaune gulped before letting a quip out, "Wow, you know me but I don't know you, this is awkward."

The man stabbed the sword into the gravel and pulled down on the collar of the sleeveless shirt he was wearing, a small 032 was tattooed onto his chest, "Altered zero-three-two, I have taken the name Fox."

Jaune sighed as he threw his knife into the gravel and pulled down the collar of his hoodie, he hated this ritual but his some primal Altered part of him forced him to follow it, "Altered zero-two-four, I have taken the name Jaune."

"It is a pleasure to meet you, brother."

"Likewise, Fox," Jaune retrieved his knife from the ground, "If it's all the same, I wish you hadn't been hired for this."

Fox removed his blade from the ground and held it at his side, "I wish I hadn't either, but as we both know, I've accepted a contract and I must see it through."

* * *

 **AN: Hey guys... I'm not dead! Impressive I know. I have multiple** **excuses as to why I haven't posted an actual chapter in... holy shit, a year. But you guys don't want to hear my stupid real life shit, so just know, I'm not fully back** **but I'm making an effort to write now. I've sort of fallen out of love with RWBY after Volume 4 and 5 so I don't know if I'll drop RWBY entirely or only exclusively write stories that have a different setting (such as this one). Thed future is a huge I don't know but hopefully you'll enjoy the stories I tell.**

 **Keep it real guys.**


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